Untitled Saving HopeVampire Diaries
by Kyrian Mikaelson
Summary: After all she had been through, Elena Gilbert was finally settling into a somewhat normal life as a resident in Canada. How will meeting Joel Goran effect this attempt at a normal life?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I'm not the owner of The Vampire Diaries or Saving Hope. If I was, this story would have been Canon. Probably. There are many saving Hope Vampire Diaries fanfics running around in my head, this is just the first one I'm actually writing.**

Chapter 1

21 year old Elena Gilbert looked up at the building in front of her, Hope Zion hospital.

' _This is it,'_ she thought. _'A brand new future. Completely free of the supernatural_.' Her phone rang and she dug it out of her pocket. _Caroline. 'Almost completely free of the supernatural_ ,' she amended as she answered her Vampire best friend's call. Bonnie, her witch best friend, was probably there with her.

"Hello," she said into the phone.

"Well?" Caroline demanded. "Have you been accepted?" Elena laughed as she heard Bonnie told Caroline to calm down and let Elena speak.

"I haven't even walked through the door yet, Care," she replied, amused.

"Well what are you waiting for? Someone to come out to you and talk to you?"

"Care, I just got here. I'm supposed to be meeting Dr Kinney in 10 minutes."

"Well you'll do fine," Bonnie reassured. "With your grades, they'll snap you up in seconds. You'll be through with your residency in a couple of years and your board exams will be passed with flying colors."

"Thanks Bon," Elena sighed in relief. Her friends' reassurance was all she needed. They said goodbye to each other and hung up. She really wished that they could be here to stand by her in person, but Bonnie and Caroline where staying at Whitmore College studying occult and drama respectively. She walked into the hospital and told the nurse at the desk that she was there to see Dr Kinney and was told where to go. When she got outside the office, she sat down in one of the chairs and thought about the past few years of her life.

After Alaric had turned into a vampire, Bonnie had found a spell to suppress the evil side which wanted to kill all vampires, especially the Originals and they had left town. She had heard from Caroline – who Klaus still wouldn't leave alone – that the family had moved back to New Orleans, where they had lived 100 years ago, something about Klaus having a baby. After that, Elena had broken up with both Salvatore brothers officially, having realized that while she loved both of them, she couldn't choose. And reason she couldn't choose was because she wasn't _in_ love with either of them. She couldn't choose between them, so she let them both go. Stefan had accepted it pretty easily. Except for the fact that he had disappeared that same evening. Damon had done his usual. He spat insults and glares, and then in one of his usual tantrums killed Jeremy – again – and rushed off. Jeremy, luckily, was wearing his ring at the time, having yet to take it off after the spell used to desiccate Klaus, and had woken a few minutes later. No one had seen him since.

From then until graduation, it was pretty much smooth sailing and the three of them went to Whitmore College after the summer. The three of them had excelled in their chosen subject, Elena studying to be a doctor, Bonnie studying the occult, and Caroline studying drama. A few months in, her teacher, Dr Westfield, pulled her aside along with three other students, and told them they had caught the attention of Harvard Medical and had offered them positions there. After 2 days of thinking and talking it over with Caroline and Bonnie, she had agreed.

And that brought her here two years later as one of Harvard's top graduates, about to go through her residency and decide which area she would like to specialize in.

The door to the office opened and an older woman in her late 40's to early 50's with dark hair and blue poked her head out.

"Elena Gilbert?"

"That's me," she said, jumping to her feet. Dr Kinney waved her into the office and gestured for her to sit down.

-SH/TVD-

 _15 minutes later…_

Elena grinned as Dr Kinney led her out of the office.

"Welcome to the team, _Dr_ Gilbert. I'm going to take you to orthopedics, where you'll have your first rotation. You'll be working with Dr Goran." Dr Kinney – or Dana, as she had insisted - led her over to an elevator. Once they got off, she started talking about the other doctors she would be meeting, including Dr Reid, Dr Hamza, Dr Bell, and many others she would be working with over the next couple of years during her residency. As they turned the corner, Elena bumped into someone else and the files Dana had given her went flying. She kneeled down along with the person who knocked into her and they both started picking it all up.

"I'm so sorry, I –"

"No, no it's fine," came a masculine accented – _was that New Zealand?_ hey inner Caroline squealed - from beside her. That both got to their feet and the guy gave her back her files.

"Elena, this is Dr Goran," Dana introduced, sounding slightly amused. "Dr Goran, this is your new resident, Elena Gilbert." Elena flicked a stand off hair out of her face and got a look at Dr Goran. She froze.

"Elijah?"

 **This is the first chapter of my new fic, everyone. Hope you liked it. I'm going to be updating this every Wednesday. I've been looking for Joelena fanfics for days, and there are like 5, so this is my attempt at writing one. If anyone finds any good ones, please send me a link?**

 **Am I the only one thinking that both Elena and Caroline would go gaga over the accent? Bonnie might too, actually…**

 **You've read the chapter – unless you're the weird kind who just skips the chapters and goes straight to the author's notes (in which case, I am not judging, but please read this chapter :) ) – so now drop a review, because I really like knowing what you guys think.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Saving Hope or The Vampire Diaries**

 **Hello, dear readers. This is on time which is great, because at the same time, I am rewatching Saving Hope. First of all, I'm going to say thank you for reading and thank you for reviewing too, you know who you are. Second of all, there is no way in hell that I'm having Joel die at the end of season three. No. Personally, I tried watching season 4 and got about 5 minutes in before deciding I could never watch past the end of season 3 because it's just not the same. Also, for some reason, I've got one of those songs from Oliver Twist in my head and I keep picturing Elijah, Stefan, Damon and Klaus as it's going around in my head. It's clear we're going to get along. Anyway... I'm going to have so much fun, writing this. I already have a proposal planned out if I decide to go that route.**

 **On with the story.**

Chapter 2

The man in front of her looked confused.

"Who?" Then the introduction caught up to her and she looked quickly to see that his name tag said 'Dr J. Goran.' This was Dr Goran?

"Um, no, sorry, I thought you were someone else. Old... _friend_ of mine."

"Right," Dr Goran gave her a look which said he wasn't entirely convinced before Dana said her goodbyes. "So, I'm Joel Goran – not Elijah –" He smirked slightly. Elena bit her lip, laughing slightly.

"Yeah, I got that."

"You can call me Joel. Follow me, we've got our first patient."

-TVD/SH-

Joel led Elena to a bed in the ER where a man with horns and multiple piercings was sat on the bed next to a woman with short hair and dressed in scrubs with a doctors coat.

"Dr Lin, this is Dr Gilbert. Dr Gilbert, this is Dr Lin. And this is our patient, Barry, is it?"

"It's _Karn,_ actually."

"You do realise these kinds of implants are illegal right?"

"Can't you just give me something for them?" Karn asked. "And I can get the hell out of here?"

"We're still waiting on the results of your bloodtest," Dr Lin started. "It could be any moment now."

"So, where did you get these done?" Joel asked, pulling on a pair of gloves and pressing on the horns.

"I've got my own tattoo parlour."

"Mhm."

"Everything from belly buttons to Prince Albert's. Do you know what that is?" he asked in a condescending tone, clearly not expecting the doctor to have that knowledge.

"Yes I do, it's a ring through the glands of the penis," he said, holding out a hand for the file Dr Lin was holding. Both female residents had a look on their face, part 'seriously? Who has that?' and part 'how does _he_ know what that is?'

"Do I even _want_ to know how you know what that is?" Elena asked.

"I don't know, do you?" he shot back, giving her a quick look. And she wasn't quite sure, but she thought that might have been the hint of a smirk on his face before it went back to serious as he continued to examine the patient.

"5 years I've had my business, no problems. Everything you see here? I did it all myself."

"You put these horns on your own head?" Joel asked, slightly dubious, slightly sounding like he was thinking 'why do other people have to be such idiots?'

"How do you deal with the anaesthetic?" Elena asked.

"I don't use it. Too dangerous."

"OK, _Karn._ What you have here is two transdermal implants gone awry. The source of the contamination is possibly the knife you used to cut your own skin, or it's the implants themselves. Diagnosis Dr Lin?"

"Cellulitis," she answered immediately.

"At the very least. But _my_ concern is-"

"Osteomyelitis," Elena cut in. Joel and Maggie looked at her, Maggie surprised, Joel torn between surprised and impressed.

"What is that?" Karn asked.

"Care to explain, Dr Gilbert?" Joel asked, raising an eyebrow. Elena would have let him finish, but could tell that this was some kind of test.

"It's an infection of the bone. When things like your horns get infected, there's always a risk of the infection passing onto and even _through_ the bone." Joel nodded.

"We'll need a CT to see if the cranial vault has been compromised."

"Compromised?"

"The infection could be eroding your skull," he answered, blunt. Elena grimaced slightly. No such thing as pulling your punches with this guy, was there?

"You want to take off my horns!"

"If I have to, yes."

"Not happening," Karn said, slipping off the bed. "It took a year of work to build them up."

"Well it's your choice," Joel told him. "But if it is osteomyelitis, then all those nasty germs could get from your skull into your brain, and if that happens, then you're facing meningitis, brain abscess, possible death."

"But we won't know until we get a CT," Maggie quickly interjected, "so first things first, OK?"

"Yeah," Karn sighed, scowling and got back into bed. The three doctors walked away from him.

"You may want to talk to your friends Gavin about a psych consult," Joel told Maggie. "I have a feeling that Damien is going to resist treatment."

"His name isn't Damien," Elena said. "And I don't think he's crazy."

 _"Karn_ is not his name either. And is 'not crazy' your professional opinion, Dr Gilbert?"

"Yes, to both. I've seen crazy, and that's not it. And Karn can be his name of he wants it to be, he's an adult, he can make his own decisions."

"I'll go get Gavin," Maggie said. "And it's nice to meet you, Dr Gilbert."

"It's nice to meet you too. You can call me Elena."

"You can call me Maggie. I get the feeling this is the start of a beautiful friendship." Maggie walked off to find Gavin for the consult. Elena turned back to Joel, only to find that the older doctor was already gone and sighed.

-TVD/SH-

Elena walked back into the ER about an hour later to see Joel standing at the desk with a young man with dark hair in a suit that just screamed psychiatrist and walked towards them.

"Hi," she said, reaching them. "I'm guessing you're Gavin?"

"Yeah, that's me. You must be the new resident. Elena Gilbert, right?"

"Yeah, it's nice to meet you. You can call me Elena."

"You too. You can call me Gavin."

"The only name I know you by," she said, giving him a bright smile. For a moment, Joel felt a small feeling, like jealousy, making itself known, before he pushed it back down, slightly confused. No. No feelings, nothing like that, especially not for some woman he's just met. Not. Happening. "So what do you think of Karn?"

"Like I was telling Dr Goran," Gavin shot him an annoyed look, "Karn is a sane and competent decision maker."

"So, he's not crazy," Elena concluded.

"No, he's not," Gavin said, happy to have at least one of them understand that. Elena shot Joel a look which said 'I told you so'.

"Well that's great. His skull's still infected, and he might get septicaemia so, the horns have to come off."

"Joel," Elena said with a sigh.

"The body mods are his identity," Gavin said, getting annoyed. "It's who he is, so you can't just go in there and order him to do whatever you want. You have to sit down with him. You have to talk him through it."

"Yeah, maybe I'll show him the CT. I'll point out exactly where his brain is turning into mashed potatoes," Joel said, annoyed. "Are we done here?"

"Do you _ever_ think of the other person?" Gavin asked. Elena looked between the two, not sure what she could do to stop the sort of argument. "Like, anyone who _isn't_ you?"

"I'm not going to dignify that with an answer."

"OK," Gavin said, before walking off, shooting Elena a 'good luck' look.

"Let's go," Joel said, gesturing for Elena to follow him. The two of them went through the doors to the ER and Elena immediately saw that Karn wasn't there.

"Miller," Joel said, walking up to where he was signing a few sheets of paper. "My patient, have you seen him?"

"Karn?" he asked. "Checked himself out, signed a refusal of treatment and took off."

"And you didn't try to stop him?!"

"Of course he tried to stop him, Joel," Elena said.

"Thank you, uh-"

"Elena."

"Thank you, Elena. I did everything I could to stop him, Joel, but if the guy wants to go, he's allowed to go, I don't make the rules." Joel was halfway across the room before he could finish his sentence. Elena sighed.

-TVD/SH-

A few hours later, and Karn's surgery – which Elena had actually had a minor part in – was over and his family had come by as he was recovering. Elena was with his wife and son as they quietly exchanged stories about their lives, Kat, the wife, of her husband and son, and her about her life in Mystic Falls, obviously dramatically edited to leave out the supernatural parts. Joel knocked on the door and all three of them looked towards him. Elena noted the plastic tub he was holding and withheld a smile. Obviously what the nurse Victor had said in the OR was true. Joel Goran _was_ becoming a softy.

"Hey. I'm Dr Goran."

"I'm Kat, Karn's wife," she said with a smile.

"It's nice to meet you," he said with a smile.

"You too. Dr Gilbert told me you saved my husband's life, but said she'd leave all the details to you. How's he doing?"

"He's doing very well, actually, yeah" he told her, before looking down at the boy. "How you doing, mate?" The boy just smiled shyly and didn't answer. "I'm, his surgery –"

"I'm awake," interrupted the tired voice from the bed. Kat lifted the going boy into the bed next to his father.

"So the surgery was a success. We were able get rid of all the infected bone. I'm going to put you on some oral antibiotics and as soon as you're in the clear we'll discharge you."

"Thank you," Kat said with a soft smile.

"You've for a beautiful family here, Karn," Joel said, looking at them, before looking down, then meeting his eyes. "Hope they get to keep you around."

"What does that mean?" he said suspiciously.

"It means you can't work on yourself anymore," he said, quietly.

"Because only a guy like you can do something like that?" Karn said, getting angry.

"No, because unless you're in am OR, it's not sterile," Joel retorted just as he got the sentence out. "You're _going_ to get an infection. Guaranteed."

"I'll think about it."

"Good. And got can think about it." Joel sighed as he held out the tub. The boy took it and shook it about a bit, the horns rattling inside. "Because we saved your brain today." Joel smiled at Karn's family before taking his leave. Elena have her own smile before going after him.

"So," Elena started, walking next to him.

"So," he repeated with a slight smile. "How was that for a first day?"

"Can't say it was boring."

"Drinks later?" Elena let out a laugh. "No, seriously. Drink?"

"I'm good," she said with a smile. "I think I'll wait for that until I've known you for at least two weeks." And with that Elena and Joel went their separate ways, Elena going to the ER.

A few hours later, Joel opened the doors to the ER wearing a T-shirt and jeans, heading out.

' _Never any harm in looking,'_ Elena thought, checking him out. ' _Because damn, he looks good.'_

"Hey doc!" came Karn's voice. Both Joel and Elena looked over to see him in a wheelchair. "Slow him your horns, buddy," he said to his son who was on his lap. The both of them made the rock on sign with their index and pinkie fingers. "Keep it real."

"Always," Joel said with a smile, before leaving, giving her a look she couldn't describe as he left. Now the only question was would she tell Bonnie and Caroline that Elijah had a doppelganger.

 **Thanks for reading the chapter, don't forget to leave a review, and I'll see you next time. And if anyone could recommend a good Joel/Elena fanfic, please please do. And for some reason, my tablet keeps auto-correcting Joel as hotel and Elena as weekend. It did it twice as I was writing Joel in this author's note and is now auto-correcting weekend as Elena as well, so if you spot that in the chapter, just tell me and I'll fix it. Review please. Please. Pleeeeaaaaassse? I love hearing what you guys think.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Saving Hope or The Vampire Diaries.**

 **Hello again, everyone. Thank you again chiwi-luv for the reviews, and as for whether or not Elena tells Caroline and Bonnie about Joel, well… read on, everyone.**

Chapter 3

"So, how was your first day?" Bonnie asked. The three girls were doing a video chat, as they had almost everyday for the past 2 years.

"It was good," Elena answered. "I'm working most with Dr Goran, an orthopedic surgeon, for the next however long. Seems pretty cool."

"Is he hot?" Caroline asked.

"Care!"

"What?! Everybody knows surgeons are supposed to be hot!" Elena considered telling her best friends that Joel was actually a doppelganger of Elijah, but decided against it. The last time the supernatural got involved in a doppelgangers life, it had brought her years of fear and misery. She knew Caroline and Bonnie wouldn't hurt him, but what if Klaus or someone else found out? She told herself this was why she decided against telling them. There _couldn't_ be anything more than that. Besides, she'd heard that Joel was dating the other doctor she'd made friends with that day, Maggie Lin.

Why was she even _thinking_ about that?

"Well? Was he hot?" Both of her best friends were more looking at her in interest. She held in a smirk.

"Yes. _She_ was."

"Seriously? You're going to be working with one person for whoever knows how long, and the doctor's not even a guy?" Elena burst out laughing.

"I'm kidding Care. He's a guy, and," she thought for a few seconds, picturing him. "He's _definitely_ hot."

"Maybe we'll meet him when we come up to Toronto in a few months," Bonnie said.

"Guys, I know none of us are dating right now, and some of us," at this point she gave Caroline a pointed look, but Caroline just looked back innocently, "want to get back in the game, but seriously, Dr Goran is off the table."

"Oooh, got your eye on him?" Caroline teased, waggling her eyebrows suggestively.

"What?!" Elena exclaimed, blushing slightly. "No! No, no, no! He's not even my type!"

"Tall?" Bonnie asked.

"Taller than me."

"Dark hair?" Caroline asked. Elena nodded, a slight crease in her forehead, wondering where her friends were going with this.

"Dark eyes?"

"Yes, why?"

"Bit of a bad boy?"

"I don't know him well enough to say." Caroline and Bonnie exchanged smirks before turning back to Elena on the screen.

 _"Totally your type,"_ they both said at the same time.

"Seriously?! Guys, even if I did have a crush on him - _which I don't,"_ the last part Elena said pointedly as both girls opened their mouths. "He's dating another doctor already."

"Gah, fine," Caroline groaned dramatically. She was all for her best friend putting her education and career before guys, but she hadn't dated anyone since the Salvatores when she was _18._ How was she supposed to meet her soul mate if she never met anyone? "But when you marry this guy-" she ignored Elena's protests and Bonnie's sniggering, " _I'm_ going to be the one planning the _whole_ thing, OK?" Elena eventually decided that nodding along was the best thing to do. Trying to deny Caroline something she wants was _not_ the best idea. "Hell, I'll even plan the proposal. It's all going to be _perfect."_

-TVD/SH-

Elena sat with Gavin as they waited for Maggie to get out of surgery. She was helping with a heart transplant and the three of them were going to eat lunch together afterwards. She was currently trying to get him to open up about his feelings for Maggie.

"I don't have feelings for Maggie," Gavin denied for the third time in the past two minutes.

"Oh come on, Gavin," she said. "You of all people know how important it is to talk to people." Gavin have her a look.

"Are you trying to use my own profession to manipulate me into talking about my feelings for Maggie?" Elena looked victorious at getting him to mention there _were_ feelings. Which Gavin caught onto. _"Feelings_ which are purely friendly. Love or crushes or anything. We're just friends."

"But you want to be more, right?"

"No! There's nothing between me and Maggie, Elena."

"Are you sure?" Elena asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, I'm sure."

"You're lying."

"I'm not lying. Maggie's my friend, we've been friends for years, why would I need more than that?"

"You said need," Elena pointed out, poking a finger at him.

"So?"

 _"Need._ Not _want."_ Gavin almost groaned and thumped his head on the table, but held back, not wanting to give her any more ammunition against him. "So?"

"So _nothing._ She's my friend, that's all she'll ever be."

"How long have you loved her?" Elena asked. Gavin sighed. She _clearly_ wasn't going to let this go. Might as well come clean, because otherwise they'll be at this _all day._

"Since we started college," he admitted. "I mean, we became friends in the first week, and I got to know her. I don't even know _exactly_ when I fell in love with her. I guess she just… snuck up on me. Then one day I realized... I was in love with her. And I haven't stopped loving her since. It just gets stronger." His watch beeped, Gavin having set an alarm for when his next patient – a young girl called Heather – was arriving. "I've got to go," he said, standing up with an apologetic look. "Got a patient."

"It's fine," Elena said with a smile. "Go. Your patient needs you." Gavin smiled and kissed her on the cheek.

"Thanks for listening."

"Not that you made it easy," she teased as he walked out. A few seconds later, Joel walked in passed Gavin. He walked over to her and reclined on the couch next to her, looking at her. She looked back. "What?"

"So… You and Gavin?" Elena looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Joel just looked back.

"Gavin and I are just friends. We were waiting for Maggie, but she's still in surgery. What does it matter?" Joel had no idea why it mattered to him. He just knew he felt jealous whenever they spoke. But he had no reason to be, and he knew that. She was gorgeous, yes, but he had Maggie. Even so, he was jealous and he knew it. He just didn't understand why.

Joel shrugged.

"Curiosity."

"Curiosity killed the cat," she warned him with a small smirk on her face.

"Satisfaction brought it back," he retorted with a bigger smirk. He leaned his elbow on the couch and rested his cheek on his palm, looking at her. "Are you sure you and Gavin aren't dating?" She leaned towards him. The faint scent of strawberries and vanilla, with a hint of something he couldn't name reached his nose, almost driving him crazy. Again, he wondered what was with this woman. No one had effected him quite like this since Alex. Quickly he brushed off the thought of his ex, focusing again on Elena.

"Yes." When that she pulled away and started reading a book she had brought with her, settling down to continue waiting for Maggie. Joel huffed a laugh. A few minutes later, Maggie walked into the room and sat with Elena. The two of them talked about the surgery before Maggie told her that her sister was coming over with her baby.

"If you like, you can stay with me," Elena offered her new friend. Maggie smiled brightly at her.

"I'll think about it. Thanks for the offer. Right now I've got to finish knitting this hat." Half an hour later, she was scowling at it. "A hat that fits the head of a new born should not take this long to knit." Elena laughed a little bit. Gavin b walked back in and over to the fridge, before closing the fridge door.

"Great!" he exclaimed. "Somebody ate my quesadilla. How do you _eat_ somebody else's lunch?! That's a serious, _serious_ violation!" Joel sighed.

"Doctors are scavengers," he mused.

"Yeah, they'll take it where they can take it," Maggie added. Joel sent her a look. Elena raised an eyebrow. She let her arms drop. "He's colicky, he's gonna bawl whether you like it or not." Gavin came over and sat on Maggie's right, since Elena had taken her left.

"How are you going to study?" Garvin asked curiously.

" _Dr Goran_ recommended an excellent brand of earplugs." Elena raised her eyebrows again, noticing the emphasis on the title, wondering what had happened between the two of them.

"You can… crash at my place," Gavin offered. Maggie looked up at him from her knitting, surprised.

"Really?!"

"Yeah," he said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Thank you, you're a prince." Then she stopped and looked at Elena. "But, Elena already offered, " she said with a sigh.

"It's OK. You can stay at Gavin's is you want," Elena said. They both smiled at her, then Maggie looked down at the hat she was attempting to knit.

"You know what, screw it," she said, scowling, throwing the hat and knitting needles back into the bag. "Gift shop. I'm _buying_ one of these bad boys." Maggie got to her feet and left.

"So," Gavin started. "You going to hang with Maggie and get sister this weekend?"

"Uh, no," Joel responded, as if it was obvious. Gavin shook his head with a snort, clearly annoying Joel as he turned to look at him. _"What_ was _that?"_ Gavin made a non committal noise in the back of his throat. _"Maggie_ doesn't even want to hang out with her," he said in defense, turning back so that he wasn't looking at Gavin.

"Joel –" Elena started but was interrupted by Gavin.

"I'm not getting involved in this."

"No one's asking you to."

"Actually _you_ are fishing for some kind of tacit approval from me and… you're not getting it."

"Guys –"

"What does _that_ mean?" Joel asked incredulously, being the one to interrupt her this time. She crossed her arms annoyed, and decided to let them have their pissing contest before being done sense into both of them.

"It _means_ that you're asking me to tell you it's OK to do something when it's not," he said, looking at Joel.

"Right, her _friend,"_ he said, raising an arm so that it was now resting on the end of the couch underneath his head.

"Yeah," Gavin responded simply. "What? You don't think men and women can be friends?"

"No. Not really, no." He looked at Gavin and Gavin looked away.

"Interesting."

"Are you guys done now?" she asked annoyed, arms crossed as she glared at them both. The guys looked at her at the same time and both saw the look on her face and started wondering, if _maybe_ they should fake needing to be somewhere. "Good. So here's what's going to happen here. Gavin, you're going to still psychoanalyzing Joel." The look she shot him as he opened his mouth had him keep quiet. "Joel. You're going to hang out with Maggie this weekend, without whining or complaining. And seriously, guys can be friends with women and vice versa. I would know. And, finally, you guys are going to get along. No fighting or arguing or _anything._ Understood?" Both men nodded. She nodded back, satisfied. "Good. Now, usually, I would have a lot more to say right now, but I've got to go. I'll talk to you both later." And then she was out the room before either could say another word.

-TVD/SH-

Elena walked out into the car park 3 hours later to see Joel standing next to a cop car, talking to the guy who was probably the one to bring in the dead prisoner. She was about to call out to him when he suddenly shouted, _"Jimmy!"_ which was followed soon by a gunshot. Elena ran over to them and gasped when she saw the cop in the car, dead. She turned to Joel, who was stood there in shock, breathing hard, just staring.

10 minutes later, more officers had arrived and asked them for statements, given that they were there when it happened. Elena went first. It only took a few minutes, seeing as she had only just got there as the trigger was pulled. She walked out to tell Joel that they were ready for him, to see him sitting with Dr Reid who she had met a couple of days before. She looked pretty upset, which was to be expected, considering her fiancé had been in a coma for a little under two months now. Joel got up just as she approached them.

"They want to talk to you." He nodded and left without a word. Elena took his vacated seat, not feeling up to driving just yet. "How did the hearing go?"

 **Caroline and Bonnie love teasing Elena. Like a favorite time of day. And I don't remember if Maggie and Gavin and when they meet or how Gavin feel in love with her was actually explained, but I think they met in college. And it seems Elena is making excuses to keep Joel a secret for now. OK, so, Now that you've read the chapter, please, leave a review**.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Saving Hope and Vampire Diaries.**

 **I'm back everyone! Thanks chiwi-luv for the reviews. I know, Elena might have to be doing a lot more putting them in their place too. I can imagine the guys faces when sweet compassionate Elena Gilbert gave them their talking to**

Chapter 4

"Elena, just don't go in today," Caroline said, Bonnie agreeing with her. "You _just_ saw a guy commit suicide, I'm sure Dr Kinney would understand if you missed today."

"Caroline's right, Elena. You should stay home today."

"Guys, I can't," she said, picking up her bag. "I've been through worse when we were still living in Mystic Falls, and I still have a job to do. The sick and injured aren't going to take a day off, so neither am I. Besides, I wasn't the only one there."

"Right, hot Dr Goran." Elena shot her friends a look, but nodded.

"Joel saw it a lot closer up, and he hasn't been through what we have. I need to check he's OK."

"Elena, he's a _doctor,_ I'm pretty sure he's seen death before. He'll be fine. What _you_ need to do is take a day off and relax."

"Nope. Talk to you guys later." With that, she left the chat, picked up her phone, and left her apartment.

-TVD/SH-

She got to work 15 minutes later and walked through the ER doors, changing in the on call room before walking out to see to some patients. She saw Joel and Zack just in front of her and walked up to them.

"Hey guys."

"Hey," they said at the same time.

"What happened to your hand?" Elena asked, worried, seeing Joel's hand bandaged. Zack had a small smirk on his face while Joel shot him an annoyed look.

"As I was just telling Miller, nothing happened. My hand is fine."

"That's a pretty bold lie, considering the fact that your hand is wrapped. Did you break it, or is it a sprain?"

"My hand is fine, just leave it alone!" Joel immediately felt bad for snapping at her and sighed. He was just about to apologize for it when they reached his patient. "Looks pretty straight forward but you're going to have to do the reduction."

"Really why? Because of your hand?" Joel glowered at him as he smirked. Elena rolled her eyes.

"Guys stop it. Joel, we can see that your hand is broken, there's no point denying it. If you want, I could help you out today?" Joel nodded quietly, before pushing the curtain open. Zack went to see to other patients since Elena would be taking his place helping Joel, after telling her about the patient.

"Mrs. Byrd. I'm Dr Goran."

"Are you the surgeon, am I going to need surgery?"

"Well, hopefully not, as long as we can properly reset the bone. Uh, let's do a hematoma block, 20 mikes of lidocaine." The last part he said to Elena as he turned to her.

"I'm doing 25 just to be safe," she said as she went around him to the patient. "I can _hear_ you rolling your eyes, you know," Elena said as he did exactly that.

"OK, so just try and relax," Joel told Mrs Byrd. She nodded slightly, closing her eyes as Elena injected the lidocaine.

"I feel ridiculous," she scoffed, annoyed with herself. "In front of the whole church and my choir was in the middle of 'amazing grace'." Elena heard Joel sigh slightly from behind her. "And what do I do? I get too close to the alter steps and fall ass over teakettle."

"I'm sure they don't think any less of you," Elena comforted her.

"Ow, Ow, Ow," Nadia gasped.

"Oh, OK, let me do that, please," Joel said, coming around to her side.

"I've got it. It's OK, Nadia. It's just a local anesthetic. How does that feel? Any pain?" Nadia shook her head. "OK, I'm going to ask you to relax." She placed the syringe down and went to her other side. "Now this bit is a little freaky alright, but you just keep breathing, OK? You're going to be fine."

"Be careful." Elena glared at him slightly before turning back to her patient, deciding to chew him out for treating her like an amateur later, after checking he was OK after last night.

"Here we go." She took her hand in hers and straightened it out, pressing slightly for a few seconds, Joel watching. "Good, how's that?"

"Yeah. Feels good."

"Good," Elena said with a grin. Joel started at her for a moment, caught by her smile, before mentally shaking his head clear of those thoughts. What the hell was going on with him around this woman?

"OK, let's go get an X-ray and make sure it's right."

"It'll be just fine," Elena assured both her and Joel.

"Nadia, I'm just going to take a quick look at your legs." He was met with the go ahead from Nadia. "Obviously because of your spinal injury, you're not going to feel any pain here but-"

"We just need to make sure you didn't break anything else in the fall," Elena finished for him.

"OK. Can someone go tell my friends I'm OK? They've been in the waiting room a while." Nadia asked as Joel started making the checks. The two doctors turned to see the entire choir gathered outside the ER in the waiting room.

"Is that the choir?" Joel asked her as he turned back to checking her legs.

"Yeah."

"Yeah, someone will go and tell them that you are just fine." Joel got to Nadia's foot and she yelped in pain. Elena stood straighter by her side and Joel looked at her in shock. "Can you feel that?"

"Oh, no, I … I can't have," she said, shaking her head frantically. He pressed down on her foot again, causing her to shout again.

"Nadia, you're feeling pain in your foot."

"That's impossible!"

"I'll need an MRI of Nadia's spine, Dr Gilbert," he said as he looked at Nadia in shock.

"I know. You tell her choir, I'll get the MRIs." Joel looked at her. Elena raised an eyebrow at him. "Get to it, Dr Goran." Joel raised his hands in a sign of surrender as be backed off. Elena turned to Nadia with a smile. "Let's get you those scans."

-TVD/SH-

Half an hour later, Elena was looking at Nadia's MRIs on the tablet screen when Joel came over to her.

"Hey."

"Hey," Joel greeted. "What do the scans show?"

"See for yourself," Elena said, handing over the tablet. The two of them looked over it together.

"There's no-"

"No spinal injury," Elena confirmed.

"I thought she was paralyzed?"

"And she is," Elena told him. "Car accident, 2 years ago. Her husband died and she was diagnosed with a burst T10. Paralyzed from the waist down."

"Yeah, but her T10 is fine, so she's either delusional or she's faking it." Elena gave him a look. "What?"

"Joel, this injury is in her medical records, signed off by a doctor. The injury existed."

"She's feeling _pain_ in her _legs,_ Elena."

"It may just be-"

"Please don't say anything about miracles," Joel said with a sigh.

"I was _going_ to say that the injury must have healed and the paralysis might be conversion disorder. She lost her husband in that car crash, Joel, that has an effect. In her case, the paralysis. Probably best to get a psychiatric consult. Maybe Gavin." They were interrupted by singing coming from their patient's bed just as she was about to ask if he was OK after yesterday. Maybe not the best time to ask, but while they had a moment she thought she'd ask, but obviously that was now out of the question. They both turned and looked. The entire choir surrounded Nadia in her wheelchair and were singing. Elena smiled and walked over, Joel following her. They both stood in the doorway.

"I'm not Christian, but it's almost like you can _feel_ the Holy Spirit when this happens."

"Yeah, well, could you ask the Holy Spirit to take it outside please, we kind of have work to do."

"Oh, they're just trying to cheer me up!" Nadia said with a smile.

"Come on, Joel," Elena said with a grin, starting to clap along. "Loosen up for five minutes." He met her eyes and was almost tempted to do as she asked, but shook it off

"We have to put a cast on this woman's arm!" Elena gave him a look.

"We can wait 5 minutes Joel. Sometimes a little singing and hope is what people need."

"She's right you know," Zack said from Joel's other side.

"Zack, Elena-"

"Look around you, Joel," Elena interrupted. "Nadia's not the only one enjoying this." Joel sighed and gave in, because she was right. Other patients in the ER were smiling or clapping along, or singing or humming with them. He waited with his arms crossed, leaning against the wall, watching. More often than not, his eyes would drift over to Elena, who was smiling widely and clapping along. After a few minutes, the choir stopped and Nadia started thanking them all.

"Alright, guys, I now need to put her arm in a cast, can you please wait outside on the waiting room, thank you." The choir started filing out, wishing Nadia good luck. Joel put the cast on her arm to help it heal, then went to the break room. Elena stayed in the ER helping other patients and keeping Nadia company.

An hour and a patient with a twisted ankle later, Elena came back over to Nadia.

"How are you feeling?" she asked kindly with a smile.

"My legs are tingling, like pins and needles all the way down. Is that normal?" Nadia asked.

"Your muscles have atrophied," came Joel's voice from behind her. Elena turned her head slightly as Joel came over to Nadia's side.

"Yeah, I know I shouldn't complain, but… it kind of hurts."

"Nadia, I just had your chart sent over from St Mike's. This image here was taken two years ago, after the accident. You had a spinal epidural hematoma in the T10 vertebrae." Elena looked at the image.

"Well I knew I had something," Nadia said, looking confused. "That sounds about right." Elena took the tablet from him, which he allowed. She looked at the next page.

"The surgeons did a spinal decompression," she said, reading the information. "It says here that it went well, the swelling went down, but you were still paralyzed."

"They didn't have an explanation for that," Nadia told them. "They just said it happens that way sometimes."

"You didn't request a second opinion?"

"I put my faith in the Lord," she told them both. "And look! Now he's healing me!" she laughed, looking down at her wiggling toes. Elena smiled with her.

"Mrs Byrd," Joel started, sitting next to her. "I have the responsibility to get your diagnosis right here. I mean, getting your legs back after two years, it isn't _possible."_

"And yet it is," Nadia said with a slight smile and a raised eyebrow, as if saying him to contradict her.

"Ookaay." He paused. "Well then I will find you something for the pain."

"Hmm."

"In the meantime, I will review your files and see if I can recommend a course of treatment." Nadia smiled as Joel left. Elena pat her on the shoulder and followed him.

"Joel!" she called. He turned and stopped, looking at her.

"What's up?"

"We need to talk about yesterday." Joel sighed.

"Look, I'm fine, OK. I'm good. I've lost patients before, it's kind of part of the job. There's not one doctor who hasn't lost a patient."

"Joel, I was there too," she reminded him. "I _saw_ the look on your face."

"You're worried, I get it, but there's nothing to worry about. I'm fine, otherwise I wouldn't be here." He paused, looking at her. "How are you? After yesterday?" weekend raised an eyebrow.

"You think you can get away with not talking about your feelings, then ask me about mine? Oh no. An answer for an answer. When you're ready to talk, I'm here." She walked off, Joel looking after her.

-TVD/SH-

Elena looked towards the shouting. Dr Reid – or Alex, as she'd insisted she call her – ran into her fiancé's room. Dr Kinney stood outside for a few seconds before walking away. Elena walked over and stood in the doorway. Alex was crouched by his side, crying. She went in and put a hand on her back. Alex took a deep, unsteady breath.

"Hey," she greeted softly. Alex looked up at her, tears in her eyes, sniffling. "Come on." She held out her hand, which Alex took. Elena helped her to her feet and over to a chair by Charlie's bed, sitting next to her. "What happened?" Alex took another deep breath before letting everything out, explaining that once Dawn had pulled the plug last night, she had started looking into making a legal appeal. She told her about the lawyer Dr Tolliver had told her about who had been the only one to ever _win_ an appeal.

"And it didn't work. I can't do anything, Elena. I love him, and I can't do _anything."_ Elena hugged her as Alex started crying again. Melanda looked in and saw them. She came over and joined the hug.

-TVD/SH-

Elena returned to the ER where Nadia and Joel were. Joel was sitting on the edge of her bed. She had just left Alex with Charlie under Melanda's watchful eyes.

"I'm not going to lie to you," Nadia started nervously. "This is harder than it looks." She was trying to move her legs, trying to get out of her wheelchair.

"You haven't walked in two years," Elena told her kindly. "It's going to take a little time." Joel looked at her, Elena ignoring him in favor of the patient.

"Dr Gilbert is right," Joel said. "It's going to be a process."

"Yeah, I shouldn't push it, is what you're saying, right?" Joel nodded. "I can't help it. God is working through me!" this last part was said with a laugh as she moved the legs she had had no feeling in for two years.

"Nadia, I would like to talk to you about what you're suffering," he said suddenly, making both Elena and Nadia look at him. "What you're _actually_ suffering. Have you heard of something called conversion disorder?" Elena met his eyes, before he looked back at the patient.

"No," Nadia said, confused. Joel continued.

"Sometimes after a trauma, we'll do anything to protect ourselves." Joel got to his feet. "If it's something we don't really want to deal with... Like the loss of a loved one. We might make a story. Something to deflect our attention from what's really going on." He walked around so that he was standing in front of her as he spoke. "You lost your husband. Alfred, right?"

"Yes?" she said, sounding half angry, half confused.

"We think that the pain of losing him was too much for you," Elena continued. "Your paralysis might be a result of you trying to distract yourself from that pain."

"All the grief you felt," Joel said. "Did you ever talk to anyone about it?"

"I talk to God," she said. "Every day."

"Did you ever talk to anyone _professional_ about it?"

"I… I had too much going on, too much to deal with. The loss of my legs, my wheelchair, I, I didn't have time to think about… about…" she started crying. Joel kneeled down in front of her as Elena held her hand. Nadia squeezed it tightly.

"It's not going to be easy to get your legs back, physically or emotionally," he started. "But listen to me. We have a great councilor here at Hope Zion." Elena smiled. Maybe he and Gavin were finally starting to get along. "I'm going to put you in touch with him." 15 minutes later, Elena watched as Joel set Nadia's feet on the ground. "Now, you're going to try your first steps in two years." He held out his hand.

"You really think I can do this?" Nadia questioned them both. Elena smiled and nodded.

"Yes."

"I know you can," Joel told her confidently with a smile, holding out his hand. "Now give me your hand." He stood, holding his arm out. Nadia hesitated. "Give me your hand." She slowly put her hand on his arm, Elena holding her other arm. Together, the three of them got her to her feet, moving her forwards. Tears started falling down her face as she laughed joyously.

"God is with you," she said, smiling widely. "You and your wife." She again both their eyes widened dramatically in shock, both stumbling over denials of being married or even being together at all. "God will show you. The two of you are to be together. The Lord had his way of making things right." That were both stunned into silence.

-TVD/SH-

Elena had just been getting ready for bed when there was a knock on her door. She went to open it, expecting Caroline and Bonnie after they had said something about her not being alone after the suicide, but saw Joel instead. He looked up at her, hiding the nerves.

"Joel! Hey."

"Hey. You said we could talk…" Without another word, Elena opened the door wider and let him in.

 **OK, so that's the end of the chapter. Hope you enjoyed it. Don't forget to review**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I still don't own The Vampire Diaries or Saving Hope.**

 **Hey guys, I'm baaaaaaaaaaaack. So I'm writing this disclaimer on Monday and some of the chapter, but I don't know when I'll be able to post it because of work. So if this is Wednesday, it was on time and I'm slightly surprised by that considering I'm working 8-7 on both Tuesday and Wednesday. If it's after, I'm sorry I'm late, but I'm surprised I managed to get it up this week.**

Chapter 5

Elena woke up the next morning to the smell of bacon, eggs and coffee. She groaned slightly, rolling over only to suddenly find nothing underneath her until she hit the ground with an oomph.

"Ow," she mumbled to herself as she stood, rubbing her head still half asleep as she wrinkled her nose, wondering who was in the kitchen. It was only when she saw the man in the kitchen that she remembered last night. Joel had come over and they'd talked about Jimmy, the cop who committed suicide. They had then moved onto talking about their pasts – excluding supernatural occurrences, of course – and then after that just generally talked about anything and everything that had come to mind. It had just turned 1 by the time one of them decided to look and Elena had offered Joel a place to stay for the night, offering to sleep on the couch. Joel had refused to take the bed ("I am a gentleman, after all," he said with a grin) but had stayed the night on the couch. Now he was making breakfast.

Shirtless.

Elena's thoughts stalled and suddenly she thought back to the day the supernatural got involved in her life, the conversation between herself and Bonnie as they looked into the office.

'All I see is back.'

'Yeah, but it's a _hot_ back.'

She tilted her head slightly. A hot back indeed.

 _'If this is the back, what does the front look like_?' She started to imagine, before mentally slapping herself. ' _No, no no no no._ _No. Don't go there, Elena. Do NOT go there.'_ Then Joel turned around and her imagination was useless. ' _Why can't I go there_ _again? Right. Dating. He's dating Maggie.'_ She snapped out of it when Joel's fingers clicked in her face. She blushed as he grinned at her, eyes light with mischief.

"See something you like?" he teased.

"Is there anything to see?" she shot back, taking a plate of eggs and bacon from him and brushing passed to the table in the middle of her kitchen. Surprisingly, her voice held steady.

"Judging by the look on your face just now, I'd say so." She gave him a look and the smirk on his face widened into a grin.

"Aren't you dating someone? Like, I don't know, Maggie?" she said sarcastically. Now it was his turn to give her a look. 15 minutes later, he was dressed and out the door. Elena sighed, running a hand through her bed hair before going to get ready for the day. Half an hour later, there was a knock on the door, and she opened it to find Caroline and Bonnie grinning at her from the other side. Elena smiled back, laughing as they came in, Elena having already invited Caroline.

"Elena!" the girls squealed as they threw themselves at her and the three of them stood in the doorway, hugging.

"Hey, guys," Elena said, smiling. "You brought ice cream?"

"Like, a million different flavors," Caroline answered enthusiastically.

"Caroline brought one of literally _every flavor,"_ Bonnie added with a grin and the three of them took the bags of ice cream and chips into the kitchen. The chips were put on the counter and Elena loaded the freezer with the ice cream before turning to face her friends.

"So what's the plan for today?" Elena asked.

"We," Caroline began, "are going to have a girls day. We'll go shopping –"

"Obviously."

"We'll have lunch at a gorgeous 50s themed diner and then we'll come back here, and spend the following 10 hours watching movies and eating ice cream, chips and chocolate."

"Sounds like fun," Elena said with a grin.

"So, when do we get to meet hot Dr Goran?" Caroline asked, wiggling her eyebrows. Elena tried to stop herself from blushing, but judging by the warmth in her cheeks, she probably failed.

"Not today, Caroline, he's working," she said. "Besides, isn't this supposed to be a girls day? Joel doesn't count as a girl."

"Well it doesn't count as a girls day if there's no at least _talking_ about boys," Bonnie said, backing Caroline.

"OK, well, there's nothing between Joel and I. He's just a friend. Has Enzo asked you out yet?"

"He's not my type," Caroline brushed off.

"He's asked me," Bonnie said. But more about that after."

"Have you seen him shirtless yet?" Elena blushed again, thinking back to this morning. Caroline gasped. "Oh my God, you have! What happened?!"

"He sleeps shirtless," Elena said. "What do you mean Enzo isn't your type, he's cute and British, isn't that everything thou want in a man?" Elena teased as she remembered the game between Caroline and Klaus years ago. He may have been psycho, but even _she_ could see he was cute and Caroline was totally into him. Caroline blushed in response.

"I don't know what you're talking about. So, Bonnie, Enzo asked you out?" Elena grinned. Diversion successful.

"Don't fall for it," Bonnie said. "She's trying to distract us." Or not. Both women turned to face Elena who suddenly had a deer caught in the headlights look on her face. "So? What happened with your doctor?"

"First of all," Elena said. "He's not _my_ doctor, he's my _colleague._ Second of all, _nothing_ happened. He came over to my place last night to talk and when we finished talking, it was late, so I let him stay. Then this morning, he was cooking breakfast and hadn't put his shirt on, that's all."

"Seriously, nothing else?!" Caroline asked.

"Nope, nothing. Bonnie. You and Enzo?" Bonnie shook her head.

"I don't know," she started. "I mean, he's cute and all, but he's just… I don't know."

"Well that's what friends are here for, right? We'll help you sort it out."

"And we'll sort your problems with your doctor after that," Caroline added.

"Caroline, seriously, there's nothing! We're just friends! _And_ he's dating another friend of mine, Maggie. So, there's nothing to sort." Elena started leading the way back to her place for the movie section of the day to start. The girls behind her shared a look. She was _definitely_ into him.

The girls settled onto the couch as the Notebook started.

"Have either of you heard from the Salvatores recently?" Elena asked. She couldn't help it. It had been 3 years, and she wasn't in love with either of them, but she still worried. They had been such a huge part of her life after her parents died and she found out about the supernatural, and now she never heard from either of them. She knew that Stefan's silence was hurting Caroline as well, the blonde Vampire having considered him one of her best friends and having definitely had a crush on him when they first met. Bonnie hadn't really liked either Salvatore, but she could see how much their disappearances effected her best friends.

"No. I can't believe they just disappeared like that," Caroline exclaimed. "We're their friends, even if they both wanted more with you."

"Guys, it's been three years," Bonnie said. "Maybe they just need some more time?"

"But like you said, it's been three years!" Caroline exclaimed. "How much time do they _need?"_

"They're vampires, Care. Time isn't the same to them as it is to a human. One day, even you will see it the way they do. You're 21 but look 17, 100 years could pass in the blink of an eye. One day, they'll talk to us, maybe just Stefan, maybe both, but they need more than three years." Bonnie turned to look at Elena. "Why do you ask?" Elena shrugged.

"I miss them. They were such a big part of her lives 3 years ago and now we never hear anything from them. They were our friends, sometimes more. Now nothing." The three girls decided that talking for the day was now over and huddled together on the couch with ice cream and sodas and other treats, watching movies until about 2am at which point that fell asleep.

 **I was thinking maybe Charlie/Rebekah if I bring the Originals into this. As much as I like Alex, I'm not so sure about Charlie/Alex, and at the moment I'm not planning on bringing the Salvatores into this more than the occasional mention, and I don't want Rebekah/Marcel for this story. Let me know what you guys think about that and don't forget to review about what you think of the story too.**

 **\- Kyrian Mikaelson**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I most definitely do not own Saving Hope or The Vampire Diaries and don't make any money from anything I write.**

 **Mostly because I haven't published any of the non fanfiction books I've written. I might make some money from them if I tried getting them published, but I don't make any money off of what I write/publish here.**

 **I'm sorry this was late, it would have been posted yesterday, but it wasn't. Sorry.**

 **So, only reviewer, you've been wondering if Katherine is alive in this. I'm going to say yes, because the only reason Katherine died in the show (the first time) was because of the cure and Silas, none of which happened here, but I'm not sure I'm going to put her in this except for maybe a few mentions, but I haven't decided yet.**

 **Chiwi-luv, I definitely wasn't going to have the Salvatores in this more than just a few mentions. I like them sometimes, but others they can be a bit… well, you've seen the show.**

 **Sorry to any readers who do like them, you're entitled to your own opinion, but so am I and usually I'm OK with them, but sometimes they can be a bit much and I wonder why Elena puts up with them, and that's my opinion.**

 **And on with the story.**

Chapter 6

Caroline and Bonnie woke up the next day around noon to see Elena rushing around.

"Woah, where's the fire?"

"I woke up late and I've got to get to work. How long are you guys here for? We didn't actually talk about that yesterday," she asked sheepishly, putting her shoe on and brushing her hair at the same time.

"We're here for the next two weeks," Bonnie told her with a smile. Elena smiled at her best friends.

"That's great!"

"Yeah, we can do more shopping, more sight seeing – oh! We can meet your doctor!" Caroline exclaimed enthusiastically. Elena froze, staring at her friends wide eyed. Joel. They were staying two weeks. Meaning they'd meet him. They'd realize he was a doppelganger, and Joel would find out too, and then the Mikaelsons might find out and then- "Elena? Are you OK?"

"Yeah," she said, trying to force her smile from before back on to her face. "Why wouldn't I be? Everything will be great."

Caroline and Bonnie shared a confused look, neither of them being convinced by her attempt. Something was wrong.

"I've got to go now, but I'll be back later. Meaning early morning." With that, she rushed out to get to work on time. Maggie had texted her saying that Reycraft had been promoted to chief surgical resident and that he was really not good with the whole 'private talk' thing.

-TVD/SH-

She walked into Joel coming out of the on call room.

"Hey," she greeted him with a smile. "Did I miss anything fun yesterday?"

"Well," Joel said with a grin. "I can't talk about _here,_ but I _did_ go to a CME with Kinney yesterday and end up cutting off a woman's leg with a pair of bolt cutters." He was fully prepared to hear her call him a liar like Maggie had last night and was surprised when she simply raised an eyebrow.

"Sounds fun. What happened?"

"A friend of Kinney's got trapped under a truck. Amputation was the only way to get her to the hospital in time to save her life and I had to improvise when we didn't have a bone saw," he told her.

They came across Alex and Joel stepped in front of her. Elena stood back and watched, not wanting to interfere. A month and a half, she'd been working here, and she knew that despite dating Maggie, Joel still had feelings of some kind for Alex. Whether or not he still loved her or it was just residual attraction, she didn't know.

"Hey, Alex. Do you have a second?"

"I do not," Alex denied.

"Hey, I just… I want to be friends again." Alex let out a sound of confused disbelief and Joel looked down before continuing. "I'm sorry, I made it weird."

"OK," Alex said.

"OK?"

"Yes."

"So, you'll stop avoiding me?" Victor came out of the OR behind Joel.

"Dr Pratt needs help," he told Alex. She brushed passed Joel and Elena joined him as he turned to watch her. The two of them followed her in.

"Spoke too soon?" Alex asked her.

"I keep on losing sight of the cords," the older doctor told her with a sigh.

"Sats are falling, you've got to bag him," Joel told her. Elena nudged him slightly with her elbow.

"Stop backseat doctoring, she knows what she's don't," she told him. She could see Alex smirk slightly as she helped Dr Pratt.

"Your resident is right. I don't need to bag him yet." Alex adjusted a bit more. "There it is, right there. Hold that. Tube." Joel handed it to her and she inserted it. After a few seconds, the patient started coughing.

"Easy," Victor warned her from between her and Alex.

"It's fine," Dr Pratt told him. "It's just a reflex. A little more…" she continued pushing it in and down his throat, the patient continuing to cough.

"OK, use the stylet," Joel told them.

"Quiet," Pratt told him sternly as Elena and Alex have him a look. "Nearly there… that's it. I got it."

"Nicely done," Joel congratulated.

"Joel."

 _"Out."_ Then Pratt looked at Elena. "She can stay." Joel opened his mouth but Elena interrupted.

"I did tell you to stop backseat doctoring," she told him, giving him a pointed look. Joel raised his hands in surrender before backing out of the room.

-TVD/SH-

"I mean, one second he was all sweet and nice and he made my patient feel really comfortable," Maggie ranted at Elena, getting a soda out of the fridge. Elena sat at the table as she threw herself down into the chair. "Then the next he's brushing me off and telling her I need to do better and then he tells me that he can't get away for a weekend trip with me! He just _had_ a trip, with Kinney! I just don't get it!"

"Maggie, I doubt even he knows what's going through his head sometimes. Relax. Everything will be fine, you two will get your weekend," she reassured her friend with a smile.

20 minutes later, Elena caught sight off Joel and went over.

"Hey," he said, smiling at her. "How did surgery with Pratt and Alex go?"

"Well, I was mostly watching and handing things over," she told him. "The patient died, but there was nothing that could have killed him." She frowned slightly, remembering. Mentally shaking her head, she recalled the reason she had come over in the first place and jabbed him lightly on the ribs. Joel feigned pain holding his side dramatically with a betrayed look on his face, making Elena bite back a laugh. "Why won't you go with Maggie?"

"I can't get away this weekend," he told her, not giving her anything else. Elena have him a look.

"She's your _girlfriend,_ Joel. You can get away for two days."

"I'm _working!"_

"I'm sure Kinney would give you some personal time," she told him simply, missing the slight grimace on his face before it faded. He opened his mouth to give an excuse but Elena spoke up again before he could. "She's your girlfriend Joel. Spending time together is part of a relationship, so you," she pinned him with a pointed look, "are going to spend time with Maggie this weekend. It'll do you both some good." She walked off without waiting for a response, leaving Joel staring after her, shocked. He shook his head and went to find Maggie for their surgery.

-TVD/SH-

Elena was helping in the ER when she was told that all surgeries were being put on hold and the clinic was shut down.

"It's because of Garcia, right?"

"Yeah," Zack said. "The doctor from the plane picked up whatever he had and now we're worried about an epidemic."

"So why haven't they closed the hospital doors?" she asked confused. Zack shrugged.

"Higher ups are more concerned with _publicity,"_ Alex said with a scowl as she joined them. "I've asked Melanda to make sure Charlie's safe, but the board representative won't let us lock down the hospital."

"Well that risks everyone," Elena said with a frown. "Surely the best way to keep whatever this virus is contained is to lock the doors. The paramedics who drove them here haven't left yet, right?"

"Nope," Alex said with a frustrated sigh. "I did tell him that, but he's still not letting us lock down the hospital."

-TVD/SH-

Joel walked into the empty room, expecting someone to be waiting. He sighed when he saw that it was empty and took a seat to wait. 10 minutes later, he was fiddling – because of course he wasn't playing with it – with a half blown up balloon as Alex walked in. She sighed annoyed, catching his attention, looking up as Alex have him a look.

"What do you want?" she asked, straight to the point.

"What do you mean?" Joel asked, confused as he got to his feet.

"Well, I was paged to the OR, so what do you need, I'm busy."

"I was paged to the OR too. Everything's on hold." Victor walked in, pulling on some gloves.

"What's going on?" he asked confused. "Did you page me?" Alex took her pager and looked at it as Elena walked into the room.

"Hey guys, what's going on? I thought all surgeries were on hold?"

"They are," Joel told her.

"Them who paged me?"

"I did," came a voice from the door. Everyone turned to look. "I paged all four of you."

"Dr Pratt is showing symptoms," the board representative, Brian, said. The CDC representative, Hibbs, continued.

"High fever, respiratory distress, seizures," he listed.

"We moved her to the ICU," Brian told them.

"The intubation," Alex said, looking at the other three who had been paged. "It was a difficult airway."

"Was the patient coughing?" Hibbs asked.

"Yes," Victor answered.

"And we were the other four people in the room," Joel finished off.

"Correct."

"You're all under quarantine."

After the two left, Alex broke out the thermometer and took Joel's temperature. Elena waited on a chair opposite them. Victor was standing looking at his phone screen, most likely looking at a list of further symptoms.

"Shortness of breath, check. Sore throat. Check. Myalgia and other boob specific symptoms. Check."

"You have non specific symptoms?" Joel interrupted.

"Normal," Alex said, before handing the thermometer to Joel. "Do me."

"What if this is it?" Victor asked, worriedly. "What of we're going to die?"

"We're not going to die, Victor," Elena reassured him. "Just because we were in the same room doesn't mean we caught the virus."

"Normal," Joel said, before going over to check Elena's temperature.

"See? Normal," Alex said to Victor. Elena waited patiently as Joel checked her temperature.

"Normal." He went over to Victor, who allowed him to take his temperature as he continued his conversation with the women.

"I can't die right now! I've got too many regrets. You don't want to know what the last thing I said to Shahir."

"Yeah, you're probably right about that," Joel said as he checked the reading.

"Victor, you need to stop, OK? You don't even have any symptoms."

"Um, actually…" the other three looked at Joel, who was still looking at the reading.

"Actually what?"

"99.7," he looked up at them. "You have a fever."

-TVD/SH-

An hour later, Caroline and Bonnie called her.

"Hey guys," she greeted them as cheerfully as she could.

"Elena!" they both said. "What the hell is going on over there?!"

"It's nothing –"

"It is not nothing!" Caroline exclaimed. "They're talking about a new infectious disease! Are you OK?"

"Yes, we're fine, everything's thing to be fine."

"You're not infected, right?" Bonnie asked, worried.

"I'm not showing any symptoms yet," she told them. Over in the middle of the room, Joel and Alex were having a conversation which, by the tones of their voices and the fact that they were getting louder, was getting rather heated. "Listen, I've got to go, I'll talk to you guys when I get out." She hung up the phone.

"Are you kidding me?! Excuses, are you listening to yourself! You can commit to anything, or anyone!"

"Including you," he said quietly.

"Yes, _including_ me. We were _living_ together and it _still_ wasn't enough for you to make an actual commitment!"

"Hey, _you_ were the one who walked out on _me!"_

"Because you _cheated on me!_ You wanted out, and you didn't have the guts, so I _walked."_

"Great, so you dodged a bullet!"

"No, I didn't Joel, you broke my heart!" The two stared at each other for a minute, Elena watching silently, before Alex started again, this time quieter. "Any time that something gets serious with you, you run away. You live your life in fear. You think that you're this big fearless cowboy, but the truth is… the truth is that you will never take a risk. Ever." They stared at each other again for a second before Joel kissed her. Alex pushed him away and slapped him hard. Elena winced. That must have hurt. Alex's phone started ringing and she answered it. "Melanda… what about Charlie?... Is he still being zapped?... We're fine…" In the OR Victor started coughing causing all three of them to look at him. "He's coughing, you need to send a team down here." It was about an hour later when Reycraft came in with a smile.

"You're free to go."

-TVD/SH-

Elena came out of the hospital and immediately saw Bonnie and Caroline in the dissipating throng of people and smiled. Both girls ran over and all three of them hugged.

"We're so glad you're OK!"

"I told you I would be," she said smiling as they pulled apart. She listened to Caroline talk for about 10 minutes before she noticed Bonnie looking over her shoulder, looking slightly confused.

"Isn't that Elijah?"

Oh shit.

 **So, I have a question. Where on earth did he get a balloon in a sterile room?**

 **You've read the chapter, please leave a review. I love knowing what you guys think.**


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